"Promise me, Marianne, that you will be careful."

"Yes, Henri. And you promise me also, Henri, that you will be careful."

"I promise you."

She went up to him, put her arms round his neck:

"My brother, my poor brother!"

"My dear little sister, my little sister!"

"Hush, hush!..."

"Hush!..."

"Here's Papa...."

Van Naghel came up the stairs.

And they went with him into the nursery, where Bertha was waiting with Emilie, Otto and Frances.

"Eduard has gone now," said Van Naghel, quietly. "I calmed him down; he is coming back to-morrow, to talk things over. You can stay here to-night, Emilie."

"Papa, I won't go back to him!"

"No, Emilie," cried Frances, excitedly, "you can't go back to him!"

"Be quiet, Frances," said Van Naghel, severely. And he repeated, "You ... can ... stay here, Emilie ... to-night...."

He suddenly turned purple.

"Tell me what the law is, Papa," Emilie insisted.

"The law?" asked Van Naghel. "The law?..."

And, almost black in the face, he pulled at his collar.

"Bertha!" he cried, in a hoa.r.s.e voice.

They were all terrified....

He tore open his collar, his tie, his shirt:

"Air!" he implored.

And his eyes started from his head, he staggered, fell into a chair.

Louise rang the bell. The girls screamed for the maids, the butler. Henri flew down the stairs to fetch a doctor.

It was was too late....

Van Naghel lay dead, struck down by apoplexy.

CHAPTER XIX

The winter months dragged sadly and monotonously past, with their continual rains and no frost: even such snow as fell melted at once in the raw, damp atmosphere. But the wind blew all the time, kept on blowing from some mysterious cloud-realm, carrying the clouds with it, violet clouds and grey clouds, a never-ending succession, which came sailing over the trees in the Woods as though over the sea. And Constance followed them with her eyes, vaguely and dreamily, dreaming on and on in an endless reverie. The clouds sailed everlastingly on the wind; and the wind blew everlastingly, like an everlasting storm, not always raging, but always rustling, sometimes high up above the trees, sometimes straight through the trees themselves. Constance remained mostly at home and sat by her window during those short afternoons, which she lengthened out in the dim shadows of the fire-lit room, where at three o'clock dusk was falling.... The everyday life went on, regularly and monotonously: when the weather was tolerable, Van der Welcke went bicycling; but for the rest he stayed upstairs a great deal, seldom going to the Witte or the Plaats, smoking, cursing inwardly because he was not rich enough to buy a "sewing-machine"

of his own. Addie went to and fro between home and school; and it was he that enlivened the meals....

And Constance, in her drawing-room, sat at the window and gazed at the clouds, looked out at the rain. Through the silent monotony of her short, grey days a dream began to weave itself, as with a luminous thread, so that she was not oppressed by the sombre melancholy of the rainy winter. When Van der Welcke went upstairs, cursing because it was raining again and because he had nothing to do, she settled herself in her drawing-room--in that room in which she lived and which was tinged as it were with her own personality--and looked out at the clouds, at the rain. She sat dreaming. She smiled, wide-eyed. She liked the ever louring skies, the ever drifting clouds; and, though at times the gusty squalls still made her start with that sudden catch in her throat and breast, she loved the raging and rustling winds, listened to them, content for them to blow and blow, high above her head, her house, her trees--hers--till, blowing, they lost themselves in the infinities beyond.... She had her work beside her, a book; but she did not sew, did not read: she dreamt.... She smiled, looking out, looking up at the endlessly rolling skies.... The clouds sailed by, sometimes high, sometimes low, above the houses, above the people's heads, like pa.s.sions disdaining mankind: dank, monstrous pa.s.sions riding arrogantly by upon the pa.s.sion of the winds, from a far-off land of sheer pa.s.sion, sullen and tempestuous; and the threatening cohorts rolled on, great and majestic, like Olympian deities towering above the petty human strife hidden under the roofs over which they pa.s.sed, ever opening their mighty flood-gates.... When Constance looked up at them, the vast, phantom monsters, coming she knew not whence and going she knew not whither, just shadowing across her life and followed by new monsters, no less vast and no less big with mystery, she was not afraid or sad, for she felt safe in her dream. The sombre skies had always attracted her, even in the old days, though they used to frighten her then, she did not know why; but now, now for the first time she smiled, because she felt safe. A soft radiance shone from her eyes, which gazed up at the phantom monsters. When the wind whistled, soughed, moaned and bellowed round the house, like a giant soul in pain, she remained as it were looking up at the wind, let her soul swell softly in unison with its dirges, like something that surrenders itself, small and weak but peaceful, to a mighty force. In her little house, as she gazed out at the dreary road, on these winter days, especially when it grew dark of an afternoon, the wind and the rain round about her seemed almost one element, vast and sad as life, which came from over the sea, which drifted away over the town and which continued to hold her and her house in its embrace....

She looked outside, she smiled. Sometimes she heard her husband's step in the pa.s.sages, as he went through the house, grumbling, muttering, cursing, because he wanted to go out.... Then she would think for a moment:

"He hasn't seen Marianne for days."

But then she would think no more about either of them; and her dream shone out before her again. The dream shone softly and unfalteringly, like a gentle, steady ray: a path of soft light that issued as it were from her eyes to the sombre, frowning clouds out yonder. Over the soft-shining path something seemed to be wafted from her outwards, upwards, far and wide and then back again, to where she sat.... It was so strange that she smiled at it, closed her eyes; and, when she opened them, it was once more as though she saw her dream, that path of light, always.... Her dream took no more definite shape and remained thus, a gentle, kindly glow, a pale, soft ray from her to the sombre skies.... It was dusk now and she sat on, quite lost in the misty, shadowy darkness all around her, quite invisible in the black room; and her eyes continued to stare outside, at the last wan streaks in the darkening heavens.... The road outside was black.... A street-lamp shone out, throwing its harsh light upon a puddle....

Then she covered her face with her hands, ashamed because she had sat musing so long, ashamed especially because she had allowed herself to wander along that luminous thread, the path of her dream.... She rang, had the lamps lit and waited for Addie, who would soon be home.

But those were the lonely afternoons.... Sometimes in those wet, dull afternoons when it grew dark so early, she saw his figure pa.s.s the window, heard him ring. It was Brauws. She did not move and she heard him go upstairs first, when Van der Welcke was in. But, since he had recommenced his visits to their house, he had got into the way of saying to Van der Welcke, in half an hour or so:

"Now I'll go and pay my respects to your wife."

The first few times, Van der Welcke had gone with him to the drawing-room; but, now that Brauws had taken to calling in a more informal fashion, Van der Welcke stayed upstairs, let him go his own way. And, after the first shock which Brauws' ideas had produced in their house, his friendship became something cheering and comforting which both Van der Welcke and Constance continued to appreciate for their own and each other's sakes. He and Van Vreeswijck were now the only friends whom they both really liked, the two regular visitors to their otherwise lonely house. And for that reason Van der Welcke let Brauws go to Constance alone, staying away, never entering his wife's drawing-room unnecessarily ... except when he heard the little bells of Marianne's voice and laugh.

Constance' heart beat when she heard Brauws' voice on the stairs:

"Now I'll go and pay my respects to your wife. She's at home, isn't she?"

"Sure to be, in this beastly weather."

She heard Brauws' step, which made the stairs creak as it came down them. Then she felt a violent emotion, of which she was secretly ashamed, ashamed for herself. For she was severe with herself: she was afraid of becoming ridiculous in her own eyes. When she felt her emotion grow too violent, she at once conjured up Addie's image: he was fourteen now. The mother of a son of fourteen! Then a smile of ironic indulgence would curve the dimples by her lips; and it was with the greatest composure that she welcomed Brauws:

"Isn't it dark early? But it's only half-past three and really too soon to light the lamp."

"There are times when twilight upsets me," he said, "and times when it makes me feel very calm and peaceful."

He sat down near her, contentedly, and his broad figure loomed darkly in the little room, among the other shadows. The street-lamps were already lighted outside, glittering harshly on the wet road.

"It's been awful weather lately."

"Yes, so I prefer to stay indoors."

"You're too much indoors."

"I go out whenever it's fine."